paypal gift

[Random Orbital Bob]

I know I could probably just visit the help on paypals website but you guys will know the answer faster

I've seen it come up as a preferred means of payment in for sale items here. Is it a relatively new service paypal offer to allow the movement of monies with zero fees? If so, I'm guessing it has a limit??

Many thanks

 

[Harbo]

No - fees are paid by the person buying. Also you loose some of your buying rights and should be used with caution.
Should only be used for very small amounts?

Rod

 

[adidat]

it usually means it costs the sender of the monies the fee, but its pretty easy to send it for free both ways now.

adidat

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

it usually means it costs the sender of the monies the fee, but its pretty easy to send it for free both ways now.

adidat

I'm not with you Adidat. How is it easy to do that? I want to send several thousand pounds to family members living abroad, and my goal is to avoid paying as much fee as I can. I was rather hoping that paypal gift was going to be the answer. I'm already suspecting that assumption was a tad off the mark

 

[Stu_2]

Asking the buyer to pay the fees is pretty much taking the p***, unless you also offer the option of bank transfer. A lot of people will have PayPay accounts that can't send money as a Gift without incurring any fees. I can't, because I won't let PP link to my bank account.

If you really want an item and are prepared to pay the sellers feeds then you can do so without choosing gift payment. This way you supposedly still have some level of protection, for what it's worth.

Cheers
Stu

 

[paulm]

Some forums I'm on don't allow sellers to ask for payment by paypal gift, it can leave the buyer with no come back via paypal if goods aren't received or are faulty, and I think it also potentially has come back on the forum too ?

I pulled out of a purchase on here recently as the seller wanted payment by gift, and although I had no concerns at all over the individual I wouldn't do it on principle.

I think what you are proposing Rob is actually the intended purpose of the gift option and means the recipient doesn't have fees deducted from the amount you send. I don't know if you still incur fees at your end though, maybe there's something on the help options on the paypal site ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[KevM]

it usually means it costs the sender of the monies the fee, but its pretty easy to send it for free both ways now.

adidat

I'm not with you Adidat. How is it easy to do that? I want to send several thousand pounds to family members living abroad, and my goal is to avoid paying as much fee as I can. I was rather hoping that paypal gift was going to be the answer. I'm already suspecting that assumption was a tad off the mark

Bob,

Are you sending the money in Sterling or local currency? If it's thousands, and you're changing currency it's worth checking on some of the specialist foreign exchange sites. I had something recently from National Savings on sending money overseas, it may have been limited to European countries.

Here's the link: http://www.nsandi.com/international-payments-service

Edit: Probably not useful for your purpose: Our international payments service lets you withdraw money from your NS&I account and send the payment directly to international bank accounts in your name.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Thanks Chaps

Its to France and Australia (2 different siblings).

 

[Harbo]

I've sent large sums to Australia and USA - the cheapest way is using the Online FX's.
They give you the current exchange rate which varies and you can choose when to commit. One I used didn't charge any fees for the first transaction and another the fee was less than £10. My bank wanted £35 to do something similar with a much poorer rate.
One firm has a base in Oz as well as the UK. (Ukforex)

Rod

 

[cambournepete]

I use Moneycorp to transfer cash from the UK to NZ - they cover most places.
No fees and you choose the rate (obviously within reason).
They make they're money in the difference between the rate they buy at and the rate they give you. This usually works out at around 1%, but as the rate you get is maybe 5% better than a bank, if not more! you still win.

 

[KevM]

Forgot to mention, one that was recommended to me is https://transferwise.com/ both for value and speed.

We've used it for (smallish <£1000) transfers to and from US and Germany.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Thanks again to all of you.

 

[brianhabby]

If these are just payment to family members (gifts) then PayPal gift is fine, there is no fee for either sender or receiver - that's why they call it gift. I have often used it to pass money between friends.

All this talk about buyer protection is irrelevant as there is no buyer, you're just passing some money to a family member.

regards

Brian